Genesis: a Manuscript

Manuscript MS 330.ii
14th Century
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

One of seven extant full-page miniatures from a lost psalter associated with William de Brailes, an artist working in Oxford, 1238-52.

This leaf depicts six scenes from Genesis:

God clothing Adam and Eve (a rarely depicted subject);

Adam digging and Eve spinning;

the offerings of Cain and Abel;

Cain slaying Abel:

God rebuking Cain:

Lamech slaying Cain.

The medallions in the frame show: God rebuking Adam, and Eve (above): Adam and Eve, each clothed and dejected after the Fall (both sides); and their sons, Enoch and Seth (below).